Online overtakes TV to become UK’s biggest advertising medium
*Please note: The IAB has made a change to its online adspend report for the first half of 2009, as from October 16. Click here to view the updated figures.
Online has overtaken TV for the first time to become the UK’s biggest advertising medium, up £82 million in the first half of the year to £1.75 billion, according to new figures from the IAB.
The latest online adspend study from the IAB, PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Advertising Research Centre shows that internet advertising grew by 4.6% in the first half of 2009, despite the overall ad sector contracting by 16.6% during the period.
The UK remains the world leader in terms of market share for online, said the IAB, with the medium accounting for 23.5% in the first half.
Paid-for search enjoyed a 6.8% increase from H1 2008 to H1 2009. Marketers invested £1.05 billion in search during H1, equating to 59.8% of all online adspend.
Classifieds were up by 10.6% to £385 million – or 22% of all online adspend – despite the property market crash and stalled automotive and recruitment sectors, due to the continued migration of advertising from print to online formats.
Online display fell 5.2% year on year to £316.5 million, with an 18.1%share of all online advertising revenues.
The study also revealed the biggest spenders by category, with technology leading the way, accounting for 19.1% of the market, followed by telecoms (13.3% up from 9.7% in H1 2008) and finance (13.2% up from 11.9%).
Entertainment and media was fourth with 11%, while consumer goods grew from 6.2% in H1 2008 to 8.1% in 2009, boosted by FMCG marketers increasing their digital budgets.
Guy Phillipson, chief executive of the Internet Advertising Bureau, said: “Internet advertising has beaten all expectations to achieve growth in the most challenging market conditions.
“Online display has performed notably well against its peers in TV, print and radio despite more than £1.5 billion being wiped off the advertising industry.
“We have a rollercoaster of a year ahead but even in tough economic conditions marketers still recognise the value, accountability and measurability of online advertising.”
Eva Berg-Winters, online advertising expert, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said: “Perhaps surprisingly, a slowing economy has accelerated the migration to digital technology and hence the continuing shift from more traditional forms of advertising to online, which promises return on investment and measurability in a period of instability.
“The only certainty is that this transgression demands fundamental structural change of business models across all industries.”